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Middle East

I am pleased that we are having this debate today, and I thank Mr. Speaker for affording me the opportunity to discuss Hezbollah, Lebanon and the middle east peace process at this important time. The debate is timely, given the forthcoming Lebanese election, which will take place on 7 June. We need to be aware that a win for the Hezbollah-led March 8 Alliance could have a destabilising effect not only in Lebanon, but in the wider region, which is why I requested the debate. Before I speak about the political situation in Lebanon, I would like to say a little about the nature of Hezbollah, its structure and its objectives. Hezbollah is a political organisation with a strong paramilitary force that operates independently of the Lebanese state. It emerged in the early 1980s to resist the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. Its fighters were organised and trained by a contingent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Even today, Iran and Syria are its main sponsors, providing financial, political and military support to the organisation. The deputy leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Nairn Qassem, stated in April 2007 that""all policies including firing missiles into Israeli territories could not have been done without the consent of the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He has to agree to all Hezbollah's activities in advance."" Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran and is used by Tehran to exert its influence over Lebanon and the eastern Mediterranean. The Hezbollah manifesto document produced in 1985, entitled "An Open Letter: The Hizballah Program", makes it clear that the organisation operates under one command structure and shares the same goals:""No one can imagine the importance of our military potential as our military apparatus is not separate from our overall social fabric. Each of us is a fighting soldier."" Hezbollah does not have separate leaderships for its military and non-military work. The Jihad Council, Political Council, Executive Council and Judicial Council all report to the Shura Council. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published on 13 April, the deputy leader, Sheikh Nairn Qassem, said of Hezbollah's structure:""Hezbollah has a single leadership. All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership. The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."" The 1985 manifesto outlines the objectives of Hezbollah as""putting an end to any colonialist entity"," bringing the Phalangists to justice for""the crimes they had perpetrated"" and establishing an Islamic regime in Lebanon. In addition, Hezbollah leaders have made numerous calls for the destruction of Israel. The manifesto makes it clear that Hezbollah intends to use armed force to achieve its goals and frames its arguments in the language of jihad. Hezbollah is committed to war against Israel. On 16 April, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was quoted thus:""I am against any reconciliation with Israel. I do not even recognise the presence of a state that is called Israel. I consider its presence both unjust and unlawful. That is why if Lebanon concludes a peace agreement with Israel and brings that accord to the Parliament our deputies will reject it; Hezbollah refuses any conciliation with Israel in principle."" Hezbollah's objectives and how it sets out to achieve them threaten stability in the middle east and challenge the sovereignty of the Lebanese state. The violent clashes that took place in Lebanon in May 2008 were triggered when the Lebanese Government sought to challenge Hezbollah's independent military capacity. Government moves to sack the Hezbollah-appointed head of security at the airport and to close down Hezbollah's internal communications network were branded by Hassan Nasrallah as a declaration of war against the organisation. Hezbollah's response was to engage in violence, which brought civilian life into grave danger. The clashes that took place resulted in the death of some 40 people and took the country to the verge of another civil war. Ultimately, Hezbollah seized west Beirut, which forced the Government into a humiliating climbdown and led to the Doha agreement of 21 May 2008, which resulted in the election of Michel Suleiman as the new Lebanese President after 18 months of political stalemate. The Doha agreement was nothing short of a victory for Hezbollah. It secured the militant group a veto over Cabinet decisions and allowed it to maintain its weapons arsenal as long as it was not used to resolve internal political conflicts. That means that although the Lebanese Government may no longer be a target, Hezbollah can continue to build its weapons cache for use against Israel in direct contravention of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which calls for disarmament of the group. The international community continues to voice concerns that Hezbollah is rearming and that weapons are being smuggled across the Syria-Lebanon border, thereby raising prospects of further conflict in the near future. I would like to ask my hon. Friend the Minister what discussions he held with the Syrian Government during his visit last month on their political, financial and military support for Hezbollah. I would also like to know what steps the British Government have taken to encourage the Syrian and Iranian Governments to do more to prevent the continued rearming of Hezbollah. Today, Hezbollah continues to maintain its military capacity in direct contravention of UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, and in defiance of the UN military mission UNIFIL—United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon—which is mandated to oversee implementation of the resolutions. Hezbollah leaders themselves continue to maintain not only that they are rearming, but that they are acquiring more sophisticated military technology. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's latest report, published on 24 April, on UN Security Council resolution 1559 reiterates concern that Hezbollah continues to maintain a substantial paramilitary capacity and infrastructure, separate from the Lebanese Government, along with a distinct telecommunications network. Those concerns were reiterated by Terje Roed-Larsen, UN special envoy for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1559, when he addressed the UN Security Council last Thursday:""The most significant remaining Lebanese militia is the armed component of Hezbollah."" He added that it was""a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the Lebanese State and a threat to regional stability."" The UN Secretary-General's report is also critical of Hezbollah's actions in Egypt, citing the announcement made by the Egyptian authorities on 8 April that 49 people had been arrested for allegedly being part of a Hezbollah cell planning terrorist attacks in Egypt. According to Mr. Roed-Larsen:""Equally alarming was the fact that Hezbollah has publicly admitted to providing support to Gaza-based militants from Egyptian territory."" On 10 April, Hassan Nasrallah publicly acknowledged that the Egyptian authorities had detained a Hezbollah operative for attempting to provide logistical and military assistance to Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza strip. It is thought that the operative was the ringleader of the cell. The US State Department's annual report on terrorism, published on 30 April, highlights Iran and its proxy Hezbollah as lead sponsors of terrorism in the region. The report notes:""Hamas and Hezbollah continued to finance their terrorist activities against Israel mostly through state sponsors of terrorism Iran and Syria, and through various fund-raising networks in Europe, the US, the Middle East, and to a lesser extent, elsewhere."" The US State Department also notes that Hezbollah has completely replenished its ranks, that it possesses more short and medium-range rockets than it had before the 2006 war and that it has moved arms back into southern Lebanon. Perhaps most distressing is the fact that the report notes that London is one of the major financial capitals through which funds to Hezbollah are channelled. I would like to hear from my hon. Friend what steps the British Government are taking to ensure that such funding is monitored and stopped, and that UK banks are prevented from doing business with proscribed sections of Hezbollah. Focusing on the internal Lebanese situation, the UN Secretary-General criticised Hezbollah for stoking up an atmosphere of intimidation in the run-up to the June election. We should not downplay the consequences and significance of a strong showing for Hezbollah in the forthcoming election. The decision by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon on 29 April to release four Lebanese generals who were held in connection with the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister represents a major boost for Hezbollah. More significantly, a new electoral law has redrawn various districts in ways that may bolster Hezbollah at the expense of the current coalition. An electoral gain for Hezbollah would represent a victory for Iran and its long-term strategy of seeking to gain regional hegemony through the promotion of a radical ideology and the application of political violence. It would also strengthen Iran's power in Lebanon and further blur the distinction between the Lebanese Government and the Hezbollah parallel state. I would like to focus now on UK policy on Hezbollah. On 4 March, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary wrote to the Foreign Affairs Committee to inform it of a "significant change" in Government policy on Hezbollah. That same day, my hon. Friend, who has ministerial responsibility for the middle east, gave evidence to that Select Committee in which he made it clear that the Government were now exploring contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah. The Government have confirmed that that adjustment to policy was designed""to press Hezbollah to play a more constructive role politically and move away from violence."" The Foreign Office issued a statement on 5 March verifying that, prior to that official announcement, our ambassador in Beirut accompanied a group of Conservative parliamentarians to a meeting with the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Committee on 9 January that was also attended by Hezbollah Member of Parliament Ali Amar. In response to a written question asking what criteria the Government use to distinguish between Hezbollah's political and military wings, my hon. Friend stated:""The Government distinguish between those parts of Hezbollah which are legitimately involved in Lebanese politics and those who are actively concerned in terrorism."—[Official Report, 31 March 2009; Vol. 490, c. 1118W.]" However, in an article that appeared on Hezbollah's website, Hezbollah senior activist Omar al-Moussawi says that although the UK's policy has changed, Hezbollah's has not. Hezbollah, he insists, remains an unchanged, singular and indivisible entity with no distinction between its military and political wings. He continues by saying that""today there is a tremendous openness toward Hezbollah, and after a boycott that lasted for many years, Britain has announced a new openness toward Hezbollah and a dialogue with it… despite the fact that Hezbollah has not changed and still resists and refuses to recognise Israel. It is the other side—" —that is, Britain—""that has changed, and retreated from its previous position"." As previously outlined, Hezbollah has not made any positive moves towards disbanding its militia, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701. On 13 March, Hassan Nasrallah made it unequivocally clear in a speech that, despite the British move, Hezbollah would not abandon its strategy of violence and terrorism and would never recognise Israel. It seems most peculiar that the Government have pursued this policy change at a time when Hezbollah continues to arm itself, in breach of UN Security Council resolutions. How do the Government reconcile their decision? My worry is that the only benefit so far of the UK Government's policy shift has been for Hezbollah, which has used it for its own electoral propaganda in the run-up to the Lebanese election. Hezbollah's electoral campaign has been boosted by the British decision, which was made despite the fact that, as outlined, Hezbollah does not distinguish between its political and military wings. I therefore ask my hon. Friend whether he would please list the benefits so far for the UK and the international community of the decision to engage with Hezbollah and what benefits he believes there will be, going forward. What contacts have been made with Hezbollah's political wing since the beginning of March? Will my hon. Friend commit to reassessing the Government's approach to Hezbollah, should the organisation take any further steps in the wrong direction? An opportunity to re-evaluate the UK Government's position will present itself after the Lebanese election, when Hezbollah will have the choice either to continue down the path of violence or to disarm and engage peacefully through non-violent means. Should it choose the former, the Government should actively reconsider their policy of exploring contacts with any element of the organisation. Not re-evaluating that policy will allow Hezbollah to continue to use UK recognition as a means to legitimise its actions. Further, the danger is that British policy could undermine Arab moderates in the region who strive for peace through non-violent means. Hezbollah's actions adversely impact on the internal politics of Lebanon. The organisation is intimidating the electorate and marginalising the Government's sovereignty while flouting UN Security Council resolutions 1701 and 1559, which call on Hezbollah to disarm. Hezbollah also affects the stability of the wider region and the middle east peace process. As admitted by Hezbollah itself, and spelt out in the UN Secretary-General's report, Hezbollah provides support to Palestinian militant groups to strengthen their capacity to launch attacks against Israel. Such actions undermine the Palestinian moderates, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who are committed to a two-state solution. The international community should focus all its efforts on empowering and strengthening the moderates in the middle east—specifically in Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt—who are committed to peace in the region. It should not engage with those organisations that have entrenched, non-negotiable positions and which seek political change through violence. I therefore urge my Government to do all they can to engage with the new US and Israeli Administrations and the wider Arab world in a process to build a comprehensive peace and constantly to re-evaluate their position vis-à-vis exploring contact with Hezbollah. I look forward to the Minister's response.